Enigma
by Lilith Lunatic
Summary: Cloud is surprised by a lot of things about Reno, but not by how Reno makes him feel. Reno/Cloud slash.


This is unbeta-ed as of now. All mistakes are mine. If I owned FF7, AC would've been entirely about Reno.

**FINAL FANTASY VII**

**_ENIGMA_**

For all of Reno's guff and gusto and loud-mouthed blathering, Cloud was surprised to learn he was almost eerily quiet in bed

For all of Reno's guff and gusto and loud-mouthed blathering, Cloud was surprised to learn he was almost eerily quiet in bed. While all of Cloud's past lovers (which could be summed down to three) were loud and raucous in a way that always made him blush, Reno barely let his panting get out of control or even let himself make that soft, mewling noise at the back of his throat that drove Cloud up the wall.

Cloud was also shocked to learn that Reno did not fight him for dominance in the sack, letting Cloud take the lead and the top whenever he wanted, which was almost always. Eventually, Cloud would realize he had been the one in control for a good long while, and he would feel guilty and tell Reno to do him this time; the funny thing being that even when Reno topped he was only following Cloud's directions.

Cloud also found some of Reno's post-coital quirks surprising. Usually, he would let Cloud hold him close as Cloud fell asleep, but sometimes he didn't want to be touched at all and would get out of bed, dress, and go do whatever he did after sex. Other times, Reno would just sit at the end of the bed and smoke a whole pack before lying back down. Sometimes, he would push Cloud away, lie on his back, and stare at nothing. On occasion, he would just go shower, dress, then sit at the table in the kitchen and do some paper work. On certain nights, Cloud would wake up afterwards to find Reno sitting in the windowsill with tears streaming down his face.

Cloud new there were people out there who liked being hurt and hurting while doing it in the comforts of their own twisted homes and hotels, but he was surprised when Reno was not one of the ones who enjoyed hurting. When Reno finally learned he couldn't and wouldn't get Cloud to harm him before, during, or afterwards, Reno picked up the habit of going out to bars and picking fights with the meanest looking bastards in the place- repeatedly. Cloud learned to accept this because he was afraid of what Reno might to himself in absence of those fights if Cloud told him to stop.

Another thing Cloud found strange about Reno was that when the redhead was in public, he acted like people expected him to: loud, obnoxious, and a pain in the ass. But when all the doors were closed, locked, and bolted, Reno would become rather introverted and withdrawn, whereas Cloud found himself being the one to initiate conversation and contact, trying to pull his lover back from wherever Reno went when he went there. Cloud still did not know very much about Reno or his past, but Reno would only reveal enough to satisfy Cloud's curiosity for at time until he started asking questions again. Reno never complained about it, or turned on Cloud about his own inability to open up like Reno very well could have, and in turn, Cloud learned to recognize when he had gleaned all from Reno he would this time around.

Cloud found Reno's eating habits strange as well. While most people he knew went out in public with friends and family to enjoy the company and get sloshed and not really eat much to harbor the getting sloshed, Reno would only eat a regular sized meal when out in public- while getting thoroughly sloshed in the process. When he was at home he barely ate anything at all, and in the first few months of when they'd first moved in together and Cloud had taken up the habit of wanting to stay in more often than not he'd been completely baffled as to how Reno had kept loosing weight while he was gaining it. After all, they ate the same foods, and Cloud, for the life of him, couldn't figure out what was going on until he noticed that Reno tended to pawn off his meal on Cloud. They'd eaten out a lot more regularly after that. And while most people tended to eat more hardily after a tiring mission, Reno would eat even less for a while, and if the mission had gone badly he wouldn't eat anything at all, going out in public or not.

While, at first, Cloud thought Reno drank a lot in public, he found out it was nothing compared to when they were at home, much more when Reno was by himself. The stranger thing was, when Reno was upset, he would go out and drink rather than stay in. He once told Cloud that's because a bartender would cut him off and he would go home and sleep, but if he drank at home, then there was no one to stop him from going over the deep end. Cloud thought Reno's drinking would become a point of animosity between them, considering how much Reno drank and how more common than not he could be seen at a times sporting a bottle or a glass, but Reno had learned the limit Cloud would watch him drown himself to before he asked him to stop, and Cloud had accepted Reno's compromise of switching to something less intoxicating and taking it slower than he normally would have. Cloud accepted this dangerous addiction to the others Reno had compiled throughout his short life.

Cloud found Reno's post-mission behavior both endearing and infuriating at times, but less surprising than other aspects of Reno eclectic personality. Instead of eating and sleeping for a good long time like most people would, Reno would exercise and starve himself until he was to weary to blink straight. Reno would push his body and mind to its limits before allowing himself any form of reprieve, and that was if the mission went off without a hitch. Reno would never let Cloud see him for a day or so after a mission that went badly, and most times Cloud was too afraid even to let himself speculate on what Reno did to himself after a fouled up mission because clearly talking it out with someone was out of the question. Then there were those certain missions that Reno couldn't even tell Cloud anything about before hand. When he got back from those, Reno would either sit and stare at nothing for hours on end or he wouldn't come back for days at a time until he got his head on straight.

Even stranger were some of Reno's sleeping habits. During the workweek, Cloud would nearly have to drag the man out of bed by his hair, but on the weekends, Reno was up bright and early to start the day. Some nights, Cloud would wake to find Reno watching him peacefully, fingers tracing patterns only the other blue-eyed man knew just above Cloud's skin, not touching him. Sometimes Reno would insistently wake Cloud up, only to kiss him gently before falling back asleep. Other nights, Cloud would be forced to shake Reno awake and away from the horrible specters haunting his dreams. Sometimes Reno would wake them both up with his screaming, sometimes Cloud would have to drag him back because the whimpering was breaking his heart, sometimes Cloud couldn't wake him at all as Reno soundlessly fought and kicked his nighttime plagues, and sometimes the very worst for Cloud would occur and he would wake to find Reno turned away from him and crying even as he dreamed. Rarely would Reno awaken himself and leave the bed as not to disturb Cloud, but the times he did Cloud was never aware until the next morning and the unoccupied spot next to him was cold.

Cloud was surprised of Reno's easy acceptance of Cloud's own strange habits and of Cloud's stranger friends' habits. Reno never said a word when one or all of them would show up unexpectedly; he would just let them in and shut himself in the bedroom or leave the apartment entirely to give Cloud and his friends peace and alone time together. Cloud knew that Reno knew the affect Reno had on his friends, and he would still remove himself from the equation to make it easier on what he probably saw as invaders upon his space. Cloud adored him for it, but found it even stranger that Reno wouldn't stay and lord over them all. Cloud learned later after one such unannounced visit that Reno preferred to live life as a kind of hermit, so when people encroached on them, Reno explained, he wasn't prepared for that kind of human socializing until he had prepared himself, but there was usually no forewarning for such times, so Reno liked to slip out and remain in his peaceful state rather than try and build up the energy to deal with such encroachers. Cloud just smiled and nodded like he understood completely when he only understood a little.

Cloud also found it strange how much reassurance and encouragement Reno needed, even though he never admitted it. The confidence Reno exhumed in public all but disappeared in private. There was still an easiness to knowing who he was, he just went about it in a less arrogant fashion. Cloud was shocked how surprised Reno had been when Cloud had first told Reno he loved him. Affection was apparently a rare find in the slums where Reno had been forced to grow up too quickly, and Cloud was always quicker to show that affection Reno had missed out on and assure him it wasn't just some bittersweet dream. Cloud sometimes needed that assurance, too.

In the end, Cloud loved Reno and all his strange surprises. Cloud often looked at his life and wondered how he managed to get so lucky. Cloud, though he would come to accept there were aspects to Reno he would never understand, loved the redheaded Turk. If there is one thing Cloud has learned about Reno, it is that the man would always be an enigma. He would not have it any other way.


End file.
